Editing Social class (section)

===Elsewhere===
In Ancient Greece, when the clan system{{efn|based on blood relations}} was declining, the classes{{efn|based on occupation}} replaced the clan society when it became too small to sustain the needs of increasing population. The division of labor is also essential for the growth of classes.<ref name="Keller"/>{{rp|39}}

[[File:Burmese nobles.JPG|thumb|[[Burma|Burmese]] nobles and servants]]
[[File:Group of Kanem-Bu warriors.jpg|thumb|right| [[Nigeria]]n warriors armed with spears in the retinue of a mounted [[Nigerian chieftaincy system|war chief]]. ''The Earth and Its Inhabitants'', 1892]]
Historically, social class and behavior were laid down in law. For example, permitted mode of dress in some times and places was strictly regulated, with sumptuous dressing only for the high ranks of society and [[aristocracy (class)|aristocracy]], whereas [[sumptuary law]]s stipulated the dress and jewelry appropriate for a person's social rank and [[social status|station]]. In Europe, these laws became increasingly commonplace during the Middle Ages. However, these laws were prone to change due to societal changes, and in many cases, these distinctions may either almost disappear, such as the distinction between a patrician and a plebeian being almost erased during the late [[Roman Republic]].

[[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]] had a large influence over political ideals of the [[French Revolution]] because of his views of inequality and classes. Rousseau saw humans as "naturally pure and good," meaning that humans from birth were seen as innocent and any evilness was learned. He believed that social problems arise through the development of society and suppress the innate pureness of humankind. He also believed that [[private property]] is the main reason for social issues in society because private property creates inequality through the property's value. Even though his theory predicted if there were no private property then there would be wide spread equality, Rousseau accepted that there will always be social inequality because of how society is viewed and run.<ref name="Conley, Dalton 2017">{{cite book|author=Conley, Dalton |chapter=Stratification |editor=Bakeman, Karl |title=You May Ask Yourself: An Introduction to Thinking like a Sociologist |edition=5th |publisher=W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. |year=2017 |isbn=978-0-393-61427-5}}</ref>

Later Enlightenment thinkers viewed inequality as valuable and crucial to society's development and prosperity. They also acknowledged that private property will ultimately cause inequality because specific resources that are privately owned can be stored and the owners profit off of the deficit of the resource. This can create competition between the classes that was seen as necessary by these thinkers.<ref name="Conley, Dalton 2017"/> This also creates [[Social stratification|stratification]] between the classes keeping a distinct difference between lower, poorer classes and the higher, wealthier classes.

India ([[Caste system in India|↑]]), Nepal, North Korea ([[Songbun|↑]]), Sri Lanka ([[Social class in Sri Lanka|↑]]) and some [[Indigenous peoples]] maintain social classes today.

In class societies, class conflict has tended to recur or is ongoing, depending on the sociological and anthropolitical perspective.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The concise encyclopedia of sociology|date=2011|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|isbn=978-1-4443-9263-0|page=66|oclc=701327736}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Weapons of the weak: everyday forms of peasant resistance|isbn=978-0-585-36330-1|oclc=317459153}}</ref> Class societies have not always existed; there have been widely different types of class communities.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Evolution of Property from Savagery to Civilization |date=2017|publisher=HansenBooks|isbn=978-3-337-31218-3|oclc=1104923720}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Ancient society|date=2000|publisher=Transaction Publishers|isbn=0-7658-0691-6|oclc=44516641}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=Encyclopedia of Western colonialism since 1450|date=2007|publisher=Macmillan Reference US|isbn=978-0-02-866085-1|pages=64, 620, 849, 921|oclc=74840473}}</ref> For example, societies based on age rather than capital.<ref name="Cambridge University Press">{{Cite book|title=Age class systems: social institutions and polities based on age|date=1985|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0-521-30747-3|oclc=11621536}}</ref> During [[colonialism]], social relations were dismantled by force, which gave rise to societies based on the social categories of waged labor, private property, and capital.<ref name="Cambridge University Press"/><ref>{{cite journal |last=Bhandar |first=Brenna |title=Property, Law, and Race: Modes of Abstraction |journal=UC Irvine Law Review |date=2014 |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=203–218 |url=https://scholarship.law.uci.edu/ucilr/vol4/iss1/10/ |access-date=2022-11-11 |issn=2327-4514 |archive-date=11 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221111012001/https://scholarship.law.uci.edu/ucilr/vol4/iss1/10/ |url-status=live }}</ref>